by PATRICK LEJTENYI

In the small Laurentian town of Piedmont, not far past the garish McDonald's on Highway 15, stands one of the province's odder landmarks. The most recognized feature of Les Cascades d'eau, a water-slide park on the highway's right-hand side going north and an otherwise second-rate getaway, is the giant faucet that stands proud and erect over its 16 slides.

Although owned and operated by Mont St-Sauveur International (MSSI), it has over the years been eclipsed by the newer, bigger and generally better Club Aquatique a few minutes' drive down the highway. But if MSSI has its way, that will change. By next summer, Piedmont may be home to Quebec's newest amusement park, with the massive Thunder Eagle roller coaster as its centrepiece.

Standing between MSSI's amusement park by the highway - which is where the company hopes to build it - and reality is the Comité des citoyens et citoyennes de Piedmont. They're aghast at the project. They say the project will ruin their bucolic idyll, bring in thousands of new visitors, overwhelm the existing infrastructure and lead to massive new construction projects that demolish their residential seclusion. They aren't happy, and are trying their best to scupper the project.

Attack of the tourist hordes

"I don't want La Ronde next to my house," says Clément Cardin, the Comité's secretary. "The roller coaster is 70-feet high and half-a-mile long. It doesn't belong in the Laurentians." And the local population seems to agree. Cardin says 87 per cent of permanent adult Piedmont residents have signed a petition against the construction of the park and the Thunder Eagle, saying it violates a number of zoning laws. After pressuring Piedmont's council, the building permit was revoked. In February, MSSI took the city to court and put the project in limbo. A judgement is expected in February 2005.

The project presents a number of problems to locals, Cardin says. First, the roller coaster's wooden components have been treated with copper, chromium and arsenic, a carcinogen. Second, its size would create visual and noise pollution. Construction and road paving would cause chaos, he says. "The roads are going to be jammed every day of the summer," he says. "Have you ever seen the highway on a Sunday at 5 in the afternoon? It's already a parking lot."

Third, the number of visitors coming to the park, which he puts at 200,000 for the first year alone, would swamp the existing sewer system and water supply. Piedmont residents, Cardin says, have enough to deal with as is. "The water park is right next to a residential area, and summers are a nightmare for them now." He also estimates that the value of the homes near the park will drop by as much as 35 per cent.

Out of Smokies, into Laurentians

Thunder Eagle is actually already in Piedmont. MSSI bought it last year from Race World, a Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, amusement park that went bankrupt three years ago. The roller coaster had a very short life in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains - it opened in May 2000 and was shut down only 14 months later. Between July 2001 and June 2003, it had been standing but not operating. Then MSSI bought and moved it north. Thunder Eagle has been in crates ever since.

"It seems the citizens have misunderstood some of the plans, and maybe we explained it wrong," says Christian Asselin, the head of communications at MSSI. All the company wants to do, he says, is expand an existing facility. "But for the moment, we're not doing anything. We're in wait-and-see mode, and we'll know what to do next February."

He says the company has several Plan Bs in mind, including moving the park further away from the highway and digging into the ground so the roller coaster's total height seems lower. As for the pollution that Cardin and company fear, he thinks their concerns are exaggerated. The park will be artfully camouflaged by trees, Cardin insists, and as for traffic, "I don't think it will have that significant an effect," he says. The park will offer 150 full-time seasonal jobs every year.

Regardless, Cardin says he won't give up. He says he has other petitions in nearby towns, and is enlisting the help of every politician he can find. "We are not ready to compromise at all," he says.